Transience
by StupidityNowOffersWisdom
Summary: The clock is ticking, and time is running out. Japan's strongest onmyouji has submitted to the darkness. A race against time has begun, and the victory doesn't seem to be in sight for both the Ghost Guild and the Institute of Spirit Sealers. Eimira, and other pairings.
1. Part I: The Plunge

**Transience**  
_Part I ~ The Plunge_

"You seem to be _very_ talented, boy," Sakura murmurs as she claws the boy's face, not batting an eyelid as the onmyouji struggles to free himself from her iron-clad grip.

He flails and kicks her - luckily for him in her shin - and she drops him onto the stony floor of Sutoku's hideout.

He groans.

"Play him as you will, Sakura. Just leave him alive. His talent will prove useful to me."

Emperor Sutoku's voice resonated clearly across the chasm, echoing softly as he ended his sentence.

Sakura, having recovered from the small jolt of pain, turned back to Hajime, eying his unconscious companions, namely Tatsuta-hime, Saho-hime, and the three Guardians of the Kyoto Shrines. She knew he had more daemons tamed, and stronger ones. Such as Shuten-Doji, and the divine blade Dojigiri, which he had used to slay her enraged form.

With a wave of her arm, she let him drift into the same state of vulnerability as his daemons.

And with that, she sinks into her memories.

* * *

**A/N: **I'm thinking of doing short and fast updates, due to my crazy schedule. Thoughts?

And be warned - this will be a bumpy ride.


	2. Part II: The Beginning of the End

**Transience**  
_Part II ~ The Beginning of the End_

A brief recap:

_And with that, she sinks into her memories._

* * *

It was, like any regular day for the Ghost Guild. Regular, as in hectic, ever since they had discovered that Sutoku had returned.

And of course, there was always something for our budding onmyouji, and his companions to do. Of which that day was to check on the Keystones, and ensure that the Guardians were good condition.

Having received a small pack of offerings - which Mira mistook for food - Hajime left the Ghost Guild's temple-like headquarters.

As he took the longer and more scenic route towards Una's shrine (to please Saho with the sakura blooms), Mira started to complain about her hunger, and devoured most of the package that Hajime had let her hold. Well, it was a bad idea when the Guardians blew up because of his insolence - how dare a mortal visit them without offerings? - and demanded that they have a little face-off.

It was 'practice', they claimed, as Ukichi grinned and slashed at Hajime's face, still somewhat bitter about the lack of chestnut rice, while the others had forgotten about the lack of 'peace' offerings and settled for a good spar.

As unfortunate as it were, the sparring attracted some unprecedented attention. Namely Emperor Sutoku and his gang. Tatsuta would later say that it was Saho's fault for making their side of the hill turn alive with flowers, while allowing the other side to remain as grassy and plain as ever.

Just as Ukon whirled around to bring his blade to Tatsuta's throat, darkness clouded the sky, and the Guardians froze.

The first to react was Una, who turned tail and hurried to her shrine, followed by Ukon and Ukichi who did just the same. Mira, however, seemed to think nothing of it and remarked, "Maybe they're just scared of the imminent rai- oh, it must be lunchtime. No wonder they returned to their shrines... Perhaps the Ghost Guild provides them with meals..?"

Hajime, however, took a slightly different stand to situation and turned to the two goddesses of season.

"This... this spells bad news, right? Surely this shouldn't be happening. I mean, Mahamayuri could do this anytime she wanted to, but why now? I mean, nobody likes thunderstorms in the middle of Hanami, right? This is just downright confusing..."

"Downright confusing indeed, don't you think? The Emperor of ghosts right behind you, and you don't even notice! Foolish boy!" a deep voice rang out from around Hajime, with no definite source.

The boy spun around, and in his haste, tripped and landed on Tatsuta, causing a domino-like effect, knocking Saho, then Sakura over (who whined about her hair afterwards).

Emperor Sutoku sneered once more, towering over the onmyouji and his daemons.

"Heavens knows what that stupid old mirror was thinking, letting a mere mortal interfere with our business," he ranted, glaring at Hajime, who had hindered his plans roughly a month ago, by befriending the Kitano sisters, who had major roles to play in his plans. "You're still a mortal, no matter how well you can communicate with ghosts."

Sakura, picking herself up, snapped her fingers.

"Succubus," she said simply, as her fingers snapped, dancing with a dark magical aura, contrasting with her pale complexion.

There was a brief moment of coldness as a dark mist formed, and a beautiful winged redhead emerged from it.

Glancing around at her surroundings, the Succubus knew what to do, slinking towards Hajime, who was starting to realise the intensity of the situation.

The demonic girl played her cards well, whispering offers of power and sweet nothings into his ear intermittently, seating herself in his lap just as he tried to get up and stand face-to-face with Sutoku. He knew what he had to do, yes, as did Mira, who tried to pry the phantom off her Master.

But of course, humans have faults. And tend to submit to a few deadly sins. Sutoku was very much pleased with this. Sakura was a great tactician, and as vain and occasionally annoying she was, she had never forgotten the art of making war, even if it had to come to watching her troops be sacrificed (- it was kind of a waste having one of her strongest in her army of Succubi be used on a human, after all).

The Emperor smirked as Hajime's face turned red at the Succubus's words. He had no idea what she had said to him, but had no intention of finding out. It was better that he didn't know. Or at least, it didn't matter to him as long as his victory wasn't compromised.

"Sakura, have your troops gather the Guardians. Ensure that they do not harm the Keystones."

Sakura nodded in acknowledgement, muttering a spell to inform the ghosts under her command.

Soon enough, Japan, if not the world, would be theirs. And nothing the Ghost Guild or Institute of Spirit Sealers could do would stop them. They had the strongest onmyouji seduced by a Succubus, Yata's protégé in their hold and soon, the Guardians. It was only a matter of time to see the forbidden fruits of their labour.


	3. Part III: Panic

**Transience**  
_Part III ~ Panic_

Mira awoke, groggily, just as she was being dragged towards the hideout by one of Sakura's Succubi. She yelped as she was pulled roughly across a sharp portion of rock.

Recognising the girl dragging her, along with Hajime and the two Goddesses of Season, as a Succubus, she struggled and managed to free herself from the Succubus's grip, tumbling towards the jagged stone that had ripped part of her robes apart.

The girl once holding Mira gave a small 'eep', before frantically glancing around the murky darkness for Yata's protégé. She'd be killed by Sakura's bare hands if she'd been found to have let Mira go just like that.

Mira, unlike the other girl, managed to regain her senses almost immediately, and activated an emergency charm on her clothes to rip a hole in the connections of the Mirror Dimension and the real world, disappearing with a loud pop, a kind that one would commonly hear when a vacuum flask is broken.

Gasping for air, she leapt through the Mirror Dimension, and landed heavily, energy exhausted from messing with the time-space of two _very_ different dimensions. She murmured a prayer to the Gods, and picked herself up carefully, inspecting the damage that had been inflicted on her before searching for the mirror connected to either the Ghost Guild or Institute of Spirit Sealers. Any one of the two would do, as long as she could get to another onmyouji or better - Yata himself.

Upon spotting the mirror that would bring her to the Institute of Spirit Sealers' headquaters, she made a rush for it, trying not to trip on the ripped cloths of her robes. She ran, and reached the silver-rimmed mirror and collapsed before it.

She was tired. Too tired.

But she had to carry on.

And with the last ounce of strength she could muster up, she inscribed the activation runes into the air.

The mirror reacted positively to the transportation runes, and sucked her into the darkness, before returning her to light, and the Institute.

Just one thing she didn't count on was to pass out halfway through and land in the meeting room where the Institute was holding an emergency meeting regarding Emperor Sutoku's plans. Or, to be more exact, on one bored Yuuki Eisuke.


	4. Part IV: Tension

**Transience**  
_Part IV ~ Tension_

A brief recap:

Just one thing she didn't count on was to pass out halfway through and land in the meeting room where the Institute was holding an emergency meeting regarding Emperor Sutoku's plans. Or, to be more exact, on one bored Yuuki Eisuke.

* * *

Sphinx slammed the table, anger coursing through her veins.

"You are letting the Ghost Guild handle this? You know how incapable they are! I demand an explanation, Eisuke."

He allowed a glare to slip through his stoic mask, and replied, "Have you forgotten, Sphinx, that that boy is more capable than any one of us? The onmyouji who managed to tame Shuten-Doji while the rest of us were clearly unable to? The person who befriended Nyarlathotep (his speech stumbled slightly on the foreign name) when none dared to? So tell me, Sphinx, is the Ghost Guild more suited to handle this situation than us?"

Sphinx did not flinch as she took in the severity of his words. As venomous as they were, they made sense. But she couldn't allow the Spirit Sealers to be trodden over by Yata and his onmyouji! She had to ensure that the Institute could uphold its name in terms of strength and agility.

Biting back a sharp remark, she returned the glare, and let the matter rest. It was futile arguing with Sir Yuuki, when most of the Institute listened to him, not her.

As Sister rose to speak about the situation in depth, especially about Emperor Sutoku's recruitment of European ghosts, an ear-splitting crack resounded across the huge meeting room. The gathered ghosts and onmyouji winced at the noise, but were fast enough to recover and watch as a crack appeared over Eisuke's head, dropping an unconscious girl bearing the Ghost Guild symbol onto the silver-haired boy.

A moment of silence passed as both tumbled to the ground, faces so close to each other, one would think they were kissing if they looked from the wrong angle. As the onmyouji and ghosts started to take in the sight, Sister burst into giggles.

"I... I knew those two..!"

Mira started to stir, thanks to her anima traits that allowed for fast recovery and regeneration, and her eyes flickered.

She slowly opened her eyes and found herself staring into a familiar pair of pale grey orbs. Eisuke-kun, she breathed as she tried to register the situation. And then she blushed madly, snapping the boy on her from his dazed state. His cheeks coloured lightly as he noticed the state of her clothing.

"U-uwaah!"

Mira only then got up weakly, shaking slightly as she continued to feel the effects of power exhaustion. It was never a thing she had imagined to experience so suddenly, a combination of a fainting spell, physical and mental exhaustion all mixed into a chaotic situation like this.

Sphinx frowned. How was a daemon from the Ghost Guild able to penetrate the Institute's defenses so easily?

That being thought... "Do, pray tell, mirror-dweller of the Ghost Guild, what brings you here today, in such... a state?"

Sphinx smirked as she noticed Eisuke eyeing Mira carefully (her clothes especially - oh my~), having recovered from his slight break out of character.

Sister, having observed the reactions of onmyouji and daemons gathered, quickly cut in before Mira replied Sphinx and got herself in serious trouble.

Bowing her head, Sister murmured, "Sphinx-sama, Mira is in no shape to give as detailed an answer as you desire. Permission to bring the... guest to take her rest in my quarters."

"Granted."

Sister sighed in relief, motioning for Mira to follow her through the dim hallways. As they were about to leave, Sphinx spoke again.

"Have her rest in Eisuke's rooms. They are much more secure than yours. We will require every single bit of information she can provide.

A smirk graced those lips as a soft 'tch' could be heard from across the room.

Much fun was to be had, despite the critical situation.


	5. Part V: Silence

**Transience**  
_Part V ~ Silence_

A brief recap:

_"Have her rest in Eisuke's rooms. They are much more secure than yours. We will require every single bit of information she can provide._

_A smirk graced those lips as a soft 'tch' could be heard from across the room._

_Much fun was to be had, despite the critical situation._

* * *

Sister had to summon Kaede to help carry Mira to Eisuke's rooms, where she was instructed to allow Mira to rest.

The walk was silent as the three girls passed through the dark corridors. There was nothing to say, and they were in no condition for conversation. Mira was unconscious, Kaede was struggling with Sister to carry Mira, and there was no-one else available to talk.

It was a long walk, but they managed to make it to Eisuke's rooms deep within the Institute without dropping Mira.

Eisuke's rooms were grand, far more ornate than Sister's. The walls were hung with calligraphy, a soft scent of incense from the small shrine (before which he prayed to his parents and the gods) hung about the room, and a collection of scrolls and books craved by scholars.

As much as Sister had visited Eisuke's quarters, they had never failed to amaze her. The size of the rooms - easily thrice of hers, how the atmosphere was impossibly calming, and how it was the only place Eisuke ever seemed to let go of his stoic mask.

Her eyes glazed over slightly as she set Mira down on a futon. She _did_ like him, in _that_ way.

But Mira suited him better, didn't she? No ties to the Institute, no tainted family history unlike her, pure, perfect, and as powerful as he was.

She sighed. And silently admitted defeat to herself, waiting for Mira's recovery.


	6. Part VI: Distress Signals

**Transience**  
_Part VI ~ Distress Signals_

A brief recap:

_She sighed. And silently admitted defeat to herself, waiting for Mira's recovery._

* * *

Sister waited, as instructed, for Mira to recover.

Eisuke had visited briefly, telling her to move Mira from the sitting room - he had no wish for Mira to be right in his visitors' view even though he knew he had few. Sister mused to herself that it was perhaps to keep a closer eye on Mira, since the only other room that was comfortable was Eisuke's bedroom.

She was jolted from her musings by Mira, who had just woken up, again, thanks to her innate abilities.

Mira blubbered a bit, confused and tired still, before regaining her usual cheerful composure and greeted Sister. She asked for food next, as expected, and Sister produced a small bento from her bag which Mira devoured in mere moments.

That travelling between dimensions had really taken a toll on her physical health.

Sister let Mira rest up a bit, before having Aboro to call Eisuke over without alerting Sphinx.

They made ample conversation, as Sister explained what had happened while she was unconscious.

"So I'm in Eisuke-kun's rooms now?!"

"Why yes indeed, Mira-cha-"

The paper doors slid open, revealing a familiar figure, stepping into the room.

_Sphinx._

"Aah, Mirror-dweller... How good to see that you've recovered," Sphinx held Aboro by her collar. "Your little ninja, Yuka, tried to avoid me, eh? How nice to know you're going behind your leader's back. I expect to see you both for interrogation soon."

As Sphinx voiced the word 'Yuka', Sister froze, stunned. She wasn't supposed to know, she wasn't supposed to know... She'd never told anyone of her past - not even Eisuke. She cringed internally as her suppressed memories floated into her mind, forcing her to relive those times. She hated it. She wanted it to stop. She wanted everything to stop and just undo itself...

With Sphinx, soft, padded footsteps sounded down the endless hallway, heavier, faster ones approached.

* * *

**A/N:** I'm quite happy with this chapter/part. Does some plot advancement. If you know the AGG whales well or stalk the summon banners, Sister is a recurring appearance of a heavy spender, Yuka, a player who's pulled every single Bell Summon since Poltergeist and has 5 Shisas as her defence team at the moment. Stay tuned for more cameos of some famous players. Any guesses on who's next?


	7. Part VII: Advent of the Second

**Transience**  
_Part VII ~ Advent of the Second_

Hajime groaned, feeling the rope binding him dig into his skin.

His eyes cracked themselves open, peering into the darkness surrounding him.

A small light illuminating a figure could be seen in the distance, but he couldn't make out who or what exactly it was. His eyes started to ache as the light grew stronger and closer. He allowed himself to close his eyes once more, and hope for the best.

Of course, that would never work.

The figure closed in on Hajime, and knelt down beside him.

"... so this is the human..."

Hajime flinched and opened his eyes as the person's breath tickled his neck.

The area had been illuminated by a small orb of light hovering near the visitor.

Hajime's pupils dilated in horror.

_W-who is this?!_

The person, was an exact copy of himself.

Every visible detail was accurate, down to the scar streaking down his left arm and the mysterious rune on his right palm that had appeared when he turned ten.

It scared him, somewhat.

"... sleep, human..." the copy murmured, palms cupping Hajime's face, staring intently at his eyes.

His mind fought back, but body submitted, and once again Hajime drifted back into his dreams.

And the copy left, smirk on his face and memories stored in the now dimly-glowing orb.


End file.
